Women’s earnings rise with education—earnings ratio falls, then rises

May 25, 1999

In 1998, the median weekly earnings of women aged 25 years and older without high school diplomas were $283, or 40 percent of the earnings of female college graduates ($707). Women with a high school degree, but no college, earned $396. Women with some college or an associate degree earned $476.

Among those 25 years and older, the ratio of women’s earnings to men’s was 73.7 percent for high school dropouts. The earnings ratio dropped to 70.9 percent among high school graduates, then rose to 74.0 percent for women with some college or an associate degree. Female college graduates had a female-to-male earnings ratio of 75.3 percent.